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As such gatherings go, Cannes is the sort of fest at which people like Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Kendall Jenner turn up to show their enthusiasm for cinema.

Despite news coverage that suggests the festival is all about Eurotrash, lines of blow and partying with supermodels on someone's gigantic yacht, they actually do show movies at this thing; on that subject, it's been a tough week for Canadians at Cannes.

Film audiences 'boo' at Cannes. Even given the nationally defining capacity for rudeness in France, this is off-putting, and particularly hard to take for polite Canadians.

Atom Egoyan got the Bronx cheer from the multitudes for his new movie, The Captive, a film about a missing girl, her parents, the detectives searching for her and a coven of bad guys. The cast of The Captive includes Ryan Reynolds (who has said nice things about working with Egoyan), Scott Speedman, Kevin Durand and Rosario Dawson.

Reports from Cannes suggest that reaction at the film's premiere was so bad that Reynolds didn't attend the after-party.

Also hearing boos on the Croisette are Ryan Gosling, for Lost River, his feature directorial debut. Gosling's movie (previously called How To Catch A Monster) is a thriller set somewhere near Detroit. it stars Christina Hendricks and Eva Mendes.

What does it all mean? We remind you that Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Terrence Malick's Tree of Life are just two of the movies that got booed in the past at Cannes; Quentin Tarantino also heard the boos when Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or 20 years ago.

À chacun son goût, people.

Interestingly, Canadian director David Cronenberg's new movie, Maps to the Stars, has received favourable reviews, but the movie — a black comedy that nails all the ego and insane competition in Hollywood — got mediocre reviews in some U.S. film industry publications.

Looks as if the naysayers can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Maps to the Stars features Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Julianne Moore and Evan Bird; the story involves, among other things, a poisonous child actor (Bird). In further bad news for Canadians, that character is described in at least one review (in the LA Times) as 'Bieberesque'.

Now that his name has entered the lexicon as a synonym for super-bratty-tantrum-throwing-obnoxious-child-star, let it be told that the Biebs himself has made his presence known in Cannes, mostly by parading around with no shirt and visible undies.

Party-goers were thrilled to see Bieber — shirtless again — at the Gotha nightclub in Cannes, rapping with Wesley Snipes, hanging with Rick Ross and wishing Busta Rhymes a happy birthday.

This is what wins applause in Cannes?

Bieber was rapping Dear Mama at the club; that whirring sound you hear is Tupac spinning in his grave.

Cast member Nicole Kidman poses during a photocall for the film "Grace of Monaco" (Grace de Monaco) out of competition before the opening of the 67th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 14, 2014. The festival will run from May 14 to 25. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)